Help!

My 2016 Ibiza ST three-cylinder 95hp petrol will be out of warranty shortly, so I am looking for anything which might be the subject of a warranty claim before it expires. I have noticed the battery has ‘EFB’ written on its top; I believe this stands for ‘enhanced flooded battery’. This got me thinking about my other cars. I believe that both my 2012 Fiat Punto 1.4 eight-valve and Fabia Scout 1.6 CR TDI have stop-start.

I don’t know much about these batteries, especially as regards charging procedure. I have a CTEK Multi XS7000 battery charger. The instructions for the XS7000 seem to indicate that it will charge most batteries in its normal (14.4V) mode, but that some AGM types benefit from the cold (14.7V) setting. However, they are not specific about how to identify these particular AGM types and they don’t mention EFBS at all. I believe that stop-start systems mostly include battery condition monitoring, which has to be able to monitor charging, so you don’t just connect to the battery posts.

Can you cast any light on this, particularly how to connect to stop-start batteries and any other stuff I might need to know about these more modern batteries. I bought the CTEK specifically because they claim you can charge without the need to disconnect the battery terminals and have used it without any problems on a number of vehicles. I also use it in its supply (13.6V) mode to retain the memory when removing a battery, again without ever having a problem. John Hall